My Future Career: Why I Want to Be a Clinical Psychologist

I have always found my-self intrigued by human behaviours and tendencies, often asking the question of “why?” I would be greatly intrigued by the workings of the brain and how it is capable of contributing to factors such as mental health issues and disorders. To this day I am still fascinated by psychology and how we still cannot explain every little occurrences of behaviour, as well as how much we still have to understand about mental illnesses and child psychology. College has taught me to that in order to do well, being focused, determined, and hardworking are key to achieving good grades. At college I study Fine art, Maths and Psychology. College has also helped me develop skills which would be useful for university.

For example, Maths has helped me develop skills and proves challenging in an academic sense. Maths has helped me work in teams and take on leadership within roles as well as encouraging me to work independently and finding solutions by myself. It encourages tactical problem solving. One area of Maths which I find interesting is calculus, this particular topic shares a theme with psychology in that one equation can be solved in multiple different ways, such as how one behaviour can be explained by multiple different factors.

Fine art allows me to be quite technical yet creative which allows me to work passionately. Fine art helped expand my creative skills and taught me how to use work in different ways. it is a subject which requires precision, passion and a keen eye to detail, taking this subject has opened my eyes to these skills required and have influenced me greatly. Abstract paintings are of great interest to me as different people perceive these images differently, just how the same illnesses and disabilities can be seen in many different ways.

Psychology is a subject which is academically challenging and enjoyable; it is a subject which requires a lot of hard work and perseverance. It is by far my most enjoyable subject as it questions a lot about society and the people within it. Many core studies which we have learnt about have proven to change my views and help understand certain aspects of behaviours more. For example, Baron-Cohens study has helped explain why people such as one of my friends who suffers from Asperger’s may struggle in understanding sarcasm within jokes and may not understand when someone shows emotions towards them. These subjects which I have chosen are helping me develop skills such as: perseverance, communication and determination.

When I’m not studying, I enjoy charity work. I won the princess Diana award for my efforts in helping with charity work mainly for the charity CAFOD in 2014 In the evenings, I regularly attend rock climbing and bouldering at the leisure centre which I immensely enjoy, these activities help me gain skills such as confidence as well as better helping me with my communication skills more so with people who may not be on the same levels as me as well as helping me appreciate that we are in a fortunate position to help others. I enjoy watching shows such as ‘the secret life of 4 year olds’ which is a series I where children up to the ages of 6 are studied and their behaviours are analysed and given a reason as to why they behave in such ways.

This is of interest to me as it looks at behaviours which you wouldn’t normally analyse and think of as being a normal thing for a child and picks them apart, thus helping me gain knowledge into child psychology. Over the summer holidays and at busy times when required I assist as a shop floor assistant at Dr Kruger, a clothes shop, in the town city. This job has enabled me to gain valuable skills in talking and interacting with people which in turn I feel made me more confident as a person. The importance of being punctual and time keeping was another valuable lesson which I learnt. For this reason, I believe I would thrive as a clinical psychology student going onto becoming a fully trained clinical psychologist.

Works Cited:

1. Bridge Structure. (2019, June 13). Federal Highway Administration, US Department of Transportation.
2. Bridge Types: Tied Arch Bridges. (n.d.). National Steel Bridge Alliance.
3. Engineering Bridges. (n.d.). Science Reference Services, Library of Congress. https://www.loc.gov/rr/scitech/tracer-bullets/engineeringbridgesTB.html
4. How Are Bridges Built? (2017, July 26). Live Science.
5. How Do Engineers Design Bridges? (2019, November 5). Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/quora/2019/11/05/how-do-engineers-design-bridges/?sh=736cd986250b
6. Introduction to Bridge Engineering. (2018, April 2). The Constructor. https://theconstructor.org/structures/introduction-bridge-engineering/18398/
7. Materials Used in Bridges. (2013, December 14). What-When-How.
8. The 10 Most Amazing Bridges in the World. (2016, October 14). Engineering.com.
9. Types of Bridges Based on Span, Materials, Structures, Functions, Utility, and Position. (2011, February 4). Brighthub Engineering.
10. Woodford, C. (2022, January 17). Bridge Engineering. Explain that Stuff!.